Wealthy Orange County couple’s twisted plot to frame a PTA president on drug charges as revenge for a schoolyard row is laid bare in true crime series: ‘This case was bats**t crazy’
A wealthy Orange County couple’s twisted plot to frame the PTA president at their son’s school on bogus drug charges is exposed in a new true-crime series.
Premiering March 14 on Sundance TV, True Crime Story: Smugshot puts the spotlight on criminals and the illegal acts they thought they could and should get away with.
The first episode, titled Revenge of the PTA Mom, focuses on Jill Easter, now known as Ava Everheart, and her former husband, Kent Easter, a pair of lawyers who went to war with school volunteer Kelli Peters before putting drugs in her car.
“This case was crazy from the start,” attorney Rob Marcereau says in the docuseries.
Jill Easter, now known as Ava Everheart, and her former husband, Kent Easter, were in prison after planting drugs in the car of Kelli Peters, the PTA president at their son’s school.
Peters (photos) talks about the couple’s attempts to have her fired as a school volunteer and jailed over a schoolyard fight in an upcoming episode of True Crime Story: Smugshot
Peters was a well-known school volunteer and the PTA president of Plaza Vista School in Irvine, California, when she accidentally crossed Jill Easter on February 17, 2010.
The Easters’ six-year-old son, who was in first grade at the time, was briefly locked outside the school under Peters’ supervision.
The Easters, who were both lawyers, ruined their seemingly perfect lives with their twisted revenge plan
Jill Easter felt her son was not being properly supervised and yelled at Peters, who apologized and tried to diffuse the situation.
However, when she tried to explain that the boy was slow to queue, the mother took this as a slight to her son’s intelligence.
The next day, Jill Easter tried to fire Peters, but when the school sided with the volunteer, the mother launched a year-long campaign against her.
She started handing out fliers smearing Peters’ name, which she denied years later during an appearance on Dr. Phil.
In March 2010, the Easters sued the PTA president over their son’s exclusion from school, but the case was dismissed.
Jill Easter also filed police reports against Peters, alleging that she was harassing her son. She tried to get a restraining order against her, claiming she was psychotic and unstable.
None of the allegations were substantiated and the request for a restraining order was denied.
“This case was crazy from the start,” attorney Rob Marcereau says in the docuseries, which premieres March 14 on Sundance TV.
Jill Easters waged war against Peters, a volunteer at Plaza Vista School in Irvine, California, after her six-year-old son was accidentally locked out of the school under her watch in 2010
“The fact that she was a lawyer scared me,” Peters recalls in the episode.
The feud came to a head on February 26, 2011, a year after Jill Easter first confronted Peters.
Law enforcement officers were called to the school after a report that Peters had been driving erratically in the parking lot.
A man, who spoke with an Indian accent, told police he thought Peters had taken drugs and saw her place a package behind the driver’s seat.
When police inspected the car, they found a large amount of marijuana, along with packets of Vicodin and Percocet.
Peters was then questioned in the parking lot with the drugs placed on the hood of her car as people left the school.
The Easters’ actions against Peters came to a head when they planted marijuana, Vicodin and Percocet in her car and tried to have her arrested for drug abuse in 2011.
The Easters, who divorced in the aftermath of their crime, served time in jail and were also ordered to pay $5.7 million in damages to Peters (pictured) and her family
However, officers quickly became suspicious of the call after Peters passed a street sobriety test, and instead turned their attention to Easter.
It later emerged that police had called from a hotel next to Ken Easter’s law firm, which was close to the school, and CCTV footage showed him walking in and making the call.
Cell phone records also showed that the Easters had been near Peters’ home, where the car was parked the night before the drugs were discovered. Their DNA was later found on the drugs.
Jill Easter pleaded guilty to planting the drugs and was sentenced to 120 days in jail, while Ken Easter fought the charges at trial but was convicted after just 90 minutes of jury deliberation.
Stanford graduate Ken Easter had his law license suspended and spent 87 days in jail, while Jill Easter was completely barred from practicing and served 60 days behind bars.
The couple, who divorced in the aftermath of their crime, were also ordered to pay $5.7 million in compensatory damages to Peters and her family.
True Crime Story: Smugshot premieres Thursday, March 14 at 10pm ET/PT on SundanceTV, AMC+ and Sundance Now